Author: Steven Sahiounie

Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian expressed the country’s determination to enhance relations with Africa in all fields. In a meeting with Iran’s new envoy to Niger, held in Tehran on Sunday, Amirabdollahian said the Iranian administration has great determination to expand relations and cooperation with the African states in all sectors. He also stressed the need to promote political and economic relations between Iran and Niger. The minister emphasized the necessity of implementing the bilateral agreements and holding a meeting of the Joint Economic Commission with the West African state. Foreign Minister of Niger Bakary Yaou Sangare paid an official…

Jordan’s King Abdullah II warned of the catastrophic repercussions of Israel’s war in Gaza on the entire region during a meeting with Brazilian Foreign Minister Mauro Vieira on Monday, the Jordan News Agency reported. The Jordanian king has been actively engaging with both regional and international stakeholders since October, advocating for an immediate and lasting ceasefire in Gaza. His efforts aim at ensuring the safeguarding of civilians while facilitating the delivery of humanitarian assistance to the area by all available means. Notable discussions include his February meeting with US President Joe Biden in Washington, as well as dates with officials from…

US President Joe Biden told Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu Monday that a major ground offensive in Gaza’s Rafah would be a “mistake,” as the two leaders spoke for the first time in a month amid growing tensions.Netanyahu had also agreed to Biden’s request to send a delegation of senior Israeli officials to Washington to discuss Israel’s Rafah plans and a possible “alternative approach,” the White House said.But in a sign of the increasingly difficult relationship, Netanyahu said that he had insisted to Biden on achieving all of Israel’s war aims against Hamas.The pair last spoke on February 15, and…

The Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates in the caretaker government, Riyad Al-Maliki, today discussed with the Singapoeran counterpart Vivian Balakrishnan efforts to stop the war of genocide waged against the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip. The Minister also called for the urgent need to accelerate the entry of humanitarian aid to the Strip. During the meeting, which was held at the ministry’s headquarters in the city of Ramallah, Al-Maliki pointed out to the ongoing Israeli violations and war crimes committed against the Palestinian people in the occupied territories, coinciding with the bloodbath waged in the Gaza Strip which enters its 164th day. Al-Maliki called…

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Monday congratulated his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on winning reelection over the weekend. In the call, Erdogan voiced his belief that the positive course in Turkish-Russian relations will continue even stronger in the days ahead, according to Türkiye’s Communications Directorate. Erdogan added that Türkiye is ready to assume any facilitator role it can in returning to the negotiating table on the Ukraine war, now in its third year. Incumbent Putin got 87.28% of the vote in Russia’s three-day presidential election, with 100% of ballots counted, the country’s election authority said Monday. source: Anadolu Agency

Steven Sahiounie, journalist and political commentator Globalization is an economic process which has created a global system. Some major countries have come to view other countries as enemies, to be threatened with wars. In the global system countries are economic enemies competing in world markets, according to Luiz Carlos Bresser-Pereira. Currently, the war in Ukraine pits the US against Russia, and the EU and NATO have played follow the leader. However, Germany is in recession, and Russia’s economy is growing. In an effort to understand the situation fully, Steven Sahiounie of MidEastDiscourse interviewed Alexander Markovics, the chief of the Suworow…

Vladimir Putin’s landslide victory in Russia’s presidential election is a remarkable triumph, a singular achievement, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters. “The presidential election is over in our country. Incumbent President Vladimir Putin has indeed achieved something truly unique. The level of public support highlights his utter triumph as a candidate, and it is also the best evidence that our country’s people support their president and rally around his policy course,” he pointed out. According to the Kremlin spokesman, the huge turnout in the election showed how much the people stand behind the head of state. “The record-high voter turnout…

EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said on Monday that Israel is provoking famine in Gaza and using starvation as a weapon of war, an accusation Israel’s foreign minister rejected.“In Gaza we are no longer on the brink of famine, we are in a state of famine, affecting thousands of people,” Borrell said at the opening of a conference on humanitarian aid for Gaza in Brussels.“This is unacceptable. Starvation is used as a weapon of war. Israel is provoking famine.”Israeli foreign minister Israel Katz in a response urged Borrell to “stop attacking Israel and recognize our right to self-defense against…

While direct transfers alone will not end extreme poverty, they represent a concrete first step toward catalyzing wider action

The near-consensus since the start of the pandemic has been that there are powerful fundamental factors keeping the neutral interest rate very low, and that there have been no major changes to those fundamentals